22O 



THE CHAIN FERNS 



close to them. Then their separation is very simple and 

 one marvels at nature's versatility in making two species 

 so alike and yet so unlike. Their resemblances are con- 

 fined entirely to the sterile fronds, their differences are 

 everywhere. The chain fern fruits on the backs of the 

 fronds; the cinnamon fern in a club-shaped spike: the 

 one has a slender rootstock and the fronds rise singly ; 

 in the other the rootstock is thick and the fronds grow 

 in crowns. Even the beginner, therefore, has no excuse 

 for confusing them. 



The rootstock of the chain fern is about a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter. It creeps extensively in the mud 



Woodwardia, Virginica. A fruiting pinna. 



and ooze of its boggy haunts and sends up its fronds at 

 intervals all summer. These often reach a height of 

 five feet with stipes nearly as long as the blades. The 

 latter are oblong-ovate and pinnate with oblong-lanceo- 

 late, acute pinnae cut three-fourths of the way to the 

 midrib into slightly falcate, obscurely crenate, bluntish 

 pinnules. Although rather thick in texture, they do 

 not survive the winter. There is no perceptible differ- 

 ence in the form of fertile and sterile fronds. The oblong 

 sori are borne on the apical portion, one series in a double 

 row, near to and parallel with the midvein of each 



